15.03.2004, Caracus: In Pakistan he played gentleman's cricket and scored with the home team. In Washington, he had coffee with George Bush and impressed on the American president the virtues of Indian elections. And in Caracas last week, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha found a soulmate in the mercurial and often larger-than-life Hugo Chavez. The embattled president of Venezuela, in between quoting Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, felt enthused enough to join hands with Sinha to breathe fresh life into the G-15 group of developing nations. "If we can't do it this time, let us call the Americans and tell them we have WMDs and they can bomb us," he declared to Sinha with a decided twinkle in his eye. Sinha promised $100 million to an Africa fund and an inspired Chavez followed India's example.

Chavez, who stood up India twice before - once even on Republic Day - has promised to come in June wearing the South American "kamiza" to beat the heat. The India-Venezuela "flirtation" is finally getting ready for the altar with the Indian pharma sector setting up house in Caracas and Reliance Industries planning to ship oil across from Venezuela.